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OpenIDs for bank accounts

Even though we have e-banking, we cannot use the bank accounts we manage via e-banking to purchase anything in an online shop. We have to use a credit card instead. That’s a bit strange in the web age.

What about having an url for each bank account? So, the url of my private account may look like daniel.hofstetter.examplebank.com and it would be an OpenID. Instead of providing the credit card data at the check out I would simply provide my bank account OpenID. Then I would get redirected to my account, where I would have to login and to confirm the amount I have to pay. Quite easy (at least on the non-technical side, on the technical side it is more complicated).

Here in the Netherlands we have the iDeal payment systems. All the major banks accept it. In the webshop, you sellect your bank and you are then redirected to the internet banking interface of your own bank where you can finish the payment (using two-factor authentication with your personal code and usually also your bankcard).

The OpenID-style sounds nice too, especially if you’ve a lot of banks to choose from. Since it’s now just a local system for a small country, there’re 5 banks that support it. Using OpenID, you could make it even global.

It is interesting to hear that a similar system is already in use in your country. And at least for real goods such a nation-wide system is probably sufficient in most cases. However, for virtual goods a global system would be useful.